Partners
Catholic University of Congo
CENAREST
IRGM Yaoundé
INRSSH Brazzaville
ISTA Kinshasa
Marien N’Gouabi University
Omar Bongo University
University College London
University of Dschang
University of Kinshasa
University of Leeds
University of Lubumbashi
University of Oxford
University of Stirling
University of Yaoundé I
Locations
Cameroon, DRC, Gabon, Republic of Congo, UK
Funder
UK International Development
Funding amount
12.1 million US Dollars
Active period
2025 – 2030
Project Overview
The Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training for Sustainable Development (CRAFT-Sustainable Development) is the first major CBSI programme, funded for five years from 2025 with £9.1m from UK International Development. CRAFT aims to transform scientific research and environmental stewardship across the Congo Basin by building world-class scientific capacity within Central Africa, enabling homegrown research to drive policy and sustainable development. The programme supports 12 leading research groups at institutions across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo, fostering a new generation of scientists through 21 PhD and 12 MSc scholarships for students from these four host countries.
CRAFT establishes the six themed Observatories identified in the CBSI Science and Capacity Plan: climate, water, vegetation, biodiversity, land use, and socio-ecology. These integrated hubs of scientific collaboration will generate crucial data to inform policies that protect forests, improve livelihoods, and address the region’s most pressing environmental challenges. Each observatory is co-led by Central African experts alongside international collaborators, to ensure that scientific discoveries reflect local priorities and inform policies which serve the people and ecosystems of the Congo Basin. Follow the links to the observatory pages to discover more about the researchers that CRAFT is supporting, and the parts of the CBSI Science and Capacity Plan that they will focus on.
Observatories
Climate and Meteorology
Hydrology and Freshwater
Vegetation, Soil and Biogeochemistry
Biodiversity
Land Cover and Land Use Change
Socio-ecology
Expected outcomes
- A new generation of highly qualified scientists to conduct future studies of the Congo Basin’s climate-water-forest-people system, and lobby for evidence-based decision making.
- Integrated open data on climate, hydrology, vegetation, biodiversity, land use and land cover, and how people utilise resources, across the forests and peatlands of central Africa.
- Findings delivered to policy makers in ways that assist their conversion to policy that protects tropical forests, protects our climate, and assists in the sustainable development of the region.
Synergies with CBSI
CRAFT includes scholarships for 33 students from Cameroon, DRC, Gabon and Republic of the Congo. CRAFT used CBSI resources to advertise the studentships, and the CBSI student portal to recruit the students. The students will be part of CBSI.
CRAFT will contribute to all six of CBSI’s Observatories, making them operational, as part of the Science and Capacity Plan.
Datasets and publications will be made open access in accordance with CBSI Open Data policies.
News
Coming soon…
Publications
Coming soon…
Data
Coming soon…
Contact
If you would like more information about the CRAFT-Sustainable Development project, please contact:
Alex Griffiths, CRAFT-Sustainable Developement Project Manager
Email: a.m.griffiths@leeds.ac.uk
Partners
Funded by
Disclaimer: This project has been funded by UK International Development from the UK government under the Congo Basin Forest Action Programme; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
